BleepingComputer.com: Low Fps Wtih X1300 Pci

I have been getting very low fps in Guild Wars Factions (6-8 is average) with my ATI Radeon x1300 PCI 256mb. So I've been asking at a Guild Wars forum that the topic has gone on to 5 pages now, and someone has the same exact problem, with the same exact card. No one can figure this out.

All other games work fine such as Fable, Warrock, and Need for Speed underground 2. Why I'm bringing this up again is I took a benchmark test useing 3dmark06 and was getting unrealistic FPS. I was getting no higher then 4, and it was usually around 2 or less. One simulation it even closed out of 3 times because it wasn't getting any FPS. I've also tried overclocking my graphics card to core 550Mhz (from 450) and 2x340mhz memory (from 2x260). This didn't make a difference in Guild Wars or the benchmark test. The weird part is with my integrated graphics I was getting like 15 FPS in Guild Wars, and I'm going to try that benchmark test useing it. They're not very good integrated graphics either, one of those Intel G series 96mb. Some people have jsut said its because it's PCI slot, but I know there has to be another reason. Even if it is, it's above the requirements and couldn't they say no PCI graphics cards.

Well sorry for this long post which is almost like the last one, but I am very desperate for an answer. Thanks!

System Specs:
Pentium 4 processor- 2.8Ghz 1mb L2 cache
512mb (256x2) DDR 400
ATI Radeon x1300 256mb PCI
80 gb. Western Digital HDD

You are misinterpreting 3DMark06. Is is an synthetic benchmark only useful for comparing different graphics cards to each other. You cannot use it to determine how well you graphics card will perform in a game. It is also designed to stress even the fastest graphics card on the market. I, with a 7800GTX, get only 10-15 fps, so 2 to 4 is damn good for a PCI card. Thirdly, the fps you get isn't as interesting at the score.

I have never touched Guild Wars but I will go out on a limb here and suggest it might be due to the x1300 supporting some graphical features the integrated doesn't. Guild Wars might have turned them on automatically, and that is what is hurting your performance.

Another idea is that Guild Wars does something that needs a lot of bandwidth between CPU/RAM and the graphics core, since a integrated graphics core will have a lot more CPU-GPU bandwidth than a PCI card. To test this you would need another PCI card.

EDIT: Another thing you could try is to force it to run in DirectX 8 mode, by adding -dx8 to the target in the shortcut properties, so it looks like this:

"C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Gw.exe" -dx8

Oh wow I feel like an idiot. My score was under 1,000 I remember. Maybe I'll run some other benchmark test too. Oh and I already tried that direct x 8 thing before, but it didn't work. I've already messed around with the graphics settings in the game and in ATI catalyst control center, but maybe theres something I missed. Still thanks for the reply I really appreciate it!